Junior Matt Ackerson wins 'Big Idea' business competition for his Web site Scrimple.com

"The Big Idea" contest organizers and the winning Scrimple.com team (left to right): Matt Wagner, MBA '09, the competition manager; Angeline Stuma '09, director of marketing for Scrimple; Natalia Avalos '07, director of sales for Scrimple; Sylvia Ng '08, assistant director of marketing for Scrimple; John Jaquette, executive director of Entrepreneurship@Cornell; Kerry Motelson '08, director of operations for Scrimple; and Matt Ackerson '09, founder and CEO of Scrimple.

For conceiving Scrimple.com, a Web site that offers college students downloadable coupons for discounts at local businesses, Matt Ackerson '09 was awarded $2,500 as the first-place winner of Entrepreneurship@Cornell's "The Big Idea" Undergraduate Business Idea Competition.

Ten finalists presented three-minute synopses of their business ideas to a standing-room-only crowd in Statler Hall's Beck Center April 11 during the annual Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration. A panel of judges and an audience of nearly 175 students, faculty and alumni voted for winners.

The final presentation was "a little intimidating since it was literally over 100 individuals judging and scoring you," said Ackerson. Scrimple.com caters to budget-conscious college students, who can print free coupons and redeem them in Ithaca stores or restaurants for discounts or free items. Participating businesses pay either for each coupon printed from the Web site or a fixed annual fee to win new customers.

Matt Ackerson '09, founder and CEO of Scrimple, and Sylvia Ng '08, assistant director of marketing for Scrimple.

With the winnings, Ackerson said he plans to hold a modest celebration, then "put the money in the bank and pretend we don't even have it for a little while. That way when we do invest it back into growing the business, we will do so deliberately."

The $1,000 second prize went to WePlace.net, which facilitates product placement for advertising purposes on YouTube and other sites with user-generated content, developed by Edipo Cravo '10 and Joseph Strandberg '10. Third place and $500 went to Yoomi Mobile, a mobile social-networking tool that retains personal privacy, developed by Stratos Lambos '08, Michael Laskin '08 and David Schindelheim '08.

The prizes were supported by the Vijay (Class of 1975) and Sita Vashee Promising Entrepreneur Award Endowment Fund.

This year's "Viewers Choice" award, voted on by nearly 17,000 members of the Cornell online community, went to QuickFit Virtual Fitting System, which combines body-scan technology with 3-D clothing design to improve online shoppers' ability to select clothing. QuickFit was conceived by seniors Gabriel Goldenberg, Scott Grossman, Shawn Jolly and Inna Kuvich.

The competition, organized and overseen by Entrepreneurship@Cornell and Student Agencies Inc., received nearly 150 entries this year; 25 semi-finalists were chosen in January.

The event was "a great showcase of the talent Cornell has to offer," said Matt Wagner, MBA '09, the competition's manager. "[It] provided an opportunity for many colleges throughout the university to come together and shine."

Becca Bowes is a writer for Entrepreneurship@Cornell.

 

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